Eagles Land in NZ for World Cup

BOULDER, Colo. -- The United States Men’s National Rugby Team landed in New Zealand Friday afternoon to take part in the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) in New Zealand. The Eagles will face Ireland (Sept 11), Russia (Sept 15), Australia (Sept 23) and Italy (Sept 27) during pool play, with coverage on NBC Universal www.universalsports.com).

Following the recent tour to Japan, the Eagles assembled in Santa Barbara on Sunday August 28. The short camp at the University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB), held in cooperation with the Santa Barbara Rugby Academy, was extremely beneficial leading up to the RWC challenge.

Eagles Head Coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, said “It was a great three days at UCSB, and hugely important to us. For the first time this year with no game immediately looming we were able to get a lot of work done and hardwire our systems for the RWC. We were very well hosted by Kevin Battle in Santa Barbara, and the facilities were excellent with the squad really enjoying our time there.”

The USA will be based in Wanganui for the first week of the RWC tournament, traveling to New Plymouth on September 9. There the Eagles will face Ireland on September 11, and Russia four days later, on September 15.

Wellington will be the next base camp for the United States as they take on Tri Nations champions Australia at Westpac Stadium on September 23. The final pool match will be against Italy in Nelson on September 27. The top two teams in each pool will then advance to the RWC quarterfinals.